MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Boyhood’ one for the ages

Friday

Jul 18, 2014 at 1:10 PMJul 21, 2014 at 8:57 PM

Al Alexander

Seldom has a song captured the soul of a movie more vividly than “Hero,” Family of the Year's moving ode to normality. It plays near the end of Richard Linklater's magnificent “Boyhood,” and boy, does it put a lump in your throat, especially the line “secrets behind the American dream.”

It resonates because it encapsulates what Linklater has spent nearly three riveting hours contemplating while gracefully pulling back the curtain on the wondrously ugly truths of growing up in a land of limited opportunity.

Seen through the eyes of Mason (the remarkable Ellar Coltrane), a tiny Texan with a 10-gallon hole in his heart, the film seamlessly chronicles his physical and psychological growth from ages 6 to 18. What makes it unique is Linklater's revolutionary idea to shoot his movie in 12 one-year increments, enabling Mason, his older sister, Samantha (Linklater's daughter, Lorelei), and his estranged parents (Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke) to grow and age right before our eyes. If that strikes you as a gimmick, you're right. But Linklater, with a huge assist from editor Sandra Adair (give her the Oscar now), ventures so far beyond stratagem that “Boyhood” evolves into not just the best movie of the year, but possibly the finest of the decade.

I say this with complete confidence because “Boyhood” is such a rarity, proving as much a technical marvel as it is a compellingly told story. Rich in charm, meaning and heart, it stealthy worms its way into your being, triggering your own recall button on how growing up would be so much easier if adults would stop getting in the way. It's such a minefield, it's a miracle anyone survives the onslaught of irresponsible guardians, dream-killing educators, bullying peers and, worst of all, broken marriages. Yet, Mason survives in the most literal sense of the word. And with each humiliation, degradation and disappointment your heart aches for him. But what's neat about life – and “Boyhood” – is that something wonderful invariably awaits just around the next corner. That's Mason's story in a nutshell: one step back; one step forward. Only the steps ahead are more like leaps, and what a joy they are to behold.

The major events are here: Mom's remarriages, first love, graduation, finding your purpose. But what moves you are the little moments, the everyday occurrences that seem routine at the time, but in hindsight are definitive. “Boyhood” offers dozens of them, and each one is so organic you almost feel like you're watching a documentary. Enhancing that verisimilitude are Linklater's subtle pop-culture references, like the kids dressing in full Hogwarts gear to attend a book-release party for the new “Harry Potter,” or one of Mason's friends noting the cheesiness of Stephenie Meyer's “Twilight” books. And my favorite, Mason saying “there's nothing left to do” after the release of “Revenge of the Sith,” the alleged final “Star Wars” installment. Remember, these bits were filmed years ago, before Bella and Edward became a joke and Disney opted to cash in on a “Star Wars VII.” Pretty prescient.

We also see the evolution of cellphones from giant contraptions to sleek little computers; the dawn of Facebook and Barack Obama, and most scary, young kids firing guns. Music (from Coldplay to Lady Gaga) also plays a key role, as do politics, beginning with Operation Iraqi Freedom and continuing right through the election of our first black president.

Most of the opinions are voiced by Hawke's musician-turned insurance-salesman Mason Sr., and they're decidedly leftist, so Republicans beware. But the voice drawing our fullest attention is that of Arquette in the finest role of her career.

You love her Olivia when she evolves into a snarling lioness, fending off any threat to her cubs, and hate her when she coldly turns her back on Mason Sr., a seemingly ideal father, to marry a series of drunken louts who couldn't care less about her two kids.

Like Mason Jr., Olivia rises like a Phoenix from every knockdown. It's pretty inspiring stuff, and if Oscar doesn't come calling, there can't be a God.

Arquette – and to an only slightly lesser extent, Hawke – also deserves kudos for her willingness to allow audiences to watch her age 12 years in 165 minutes.

I'm willing to bet no other starlet would have the courage or the lack of ego. Even greater, Arquette looks like a mom, beautiful and vivacious, but appearing a wee bit harried. And who wouldn't be when charged with raising two children almost entirely on her own; always playing the bad cop, while their good-cop father carries on carefree during his fun-filled visitation weekends.

Life ain't fair. And that's the point in “Boyhood.” And as soon as you realize that, the sooner you'll stop being bitter and start enjoying life the way it's meant to be lived. It's a hard lesson for Mason Jr., and Linklater couldn't have found a better vessel to portray that struggle than Coltrane. Even when he's only 6, the kid exhibits depth, and it only gets deeper with each passing year. And growing right along with him is your attachment to Mason.

Coltrane was a major gamble on Linklater's part because when he hired the kid back in 2002, who knew he would be someone willing to stick with the project for 12 long years, or develop the acting chops to handle the weightier teenage material? Same for Hawke and Arquette, who repeatedly had to rearrange their busy schedules so everyone could report to Texas for the movie's annual four-day shoot. Their reward is having their names up on the marquee, but the real stars of “Boyhood” are Linklater who both conceived the idea and wrote the script, and Adair, who assembled the years of footage into a fluid story that's impossible to detect where one year's filming stopped the other's began. The result is a marvel of technical and narrative know-how that may never be topped. More than that, “Boyhood” is a damn-good movie, one that's literally for the ages.

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